Curse of the Samurai's Flame
by Exterminatedaffodils123
Summary: A mysterious artefact is stolen in a suspicious manner. 2/6 of the Jonathan Creek series.
1. Chapter 1 - Dominic Peterson

Curse of the Samurai's Flame

(A/N) So this is the sequel to the Bloodied Dagger – Olivia is still the sidekick, etc. 2/6 in my Jonathan Creek series, please review :) I don't own Jonathan Creek (the show or character), or Adam Klaus…but I do own Olivia ;) (A/N)

In a large house, a few miles outside of London, lived Dominic Peterson – after inheriting a good few millions from his parents after they died, he invested it in several oil industries in Africa, tripling his fortune overnight. Now, he had retired to his manor home – retired being a fair debate, given how he'd never actually worked in his life.

One of his favourite hobbies was spending his immense fortune – on anything and everything. Things from custom-made mirrors, to his limited edition statuette of the Jackson Five. And, to be the pride of his collection, was the Samurai's Flame – an antique gold medallion, only the size of a flattened fob watch, with an intricate flame engraved into the front of it and a thin chain around it.

"Legend has it, that it would grant godly powers to whoever may wield it in battle – such was a well-known and notorious legend, that it was buried in a field over a hundred leagues long, so that it may never be found again. After its reign of avarice had ended, it lay underground for hundreds of years, until a small landscaping firm unearthed it, and turned into a multi-million dollar mega-industry after it was auctioned away. And this, is the real deal,"

The tour guide, dressed neatly in a pristine blue suit and a white shirt, was reading out the same, scripted monologue he'd read out a hundred times now. His name was Dennis, and he'd worked for Mr Peterson for nigh on five years now, reading out the lines Peterson had printed off from Wikipedia for him. However, he'd been in the family for years – the two families had a long and noble history of servitude and loyalty.

At the end of his speech, he punched in the code into the keypad on the wall, causing the three inch think sheet of bulletproof glass to slide to the right, exposing the Samurai's Flame to the adoring public.

"Now, of course, we have the utmost security measures in place; not only the secure glass pane, but also the circulation of guards outside the room and the electrocuted fence around the perimeter. In fact, it'd probably take superhuman powers just to steal the thing…"

This produced a small gaggle of giggles from the crowd, before Dennis ushered them away, into the Manet gallery. Automatically, the glass pane returned to its place, sealing the treasure back in its chest.

It didn't happen until much later that night. The house was officially closed to the public, and Dominic was unwinding from his stressful day of sitting around and drinking by sipping an old whiskey by the fire. The last few servants were going home, engulfed in the darkness of the fast approaching night.

"I'll be turning in now, Mr Peterson," said Thomas, the aged butler, as he removed his perfectly straightened tie slowly and methodically.

"Okay, Thomas," Dominic replied, not turning away from the roaring fire. "Take care,"

"Thank you, sir. Will do, sir,"

Five minutes later, the house was almost dead; all but a handful of the guards remained, 8 out of the ten of them guarding the perimeter, the other two watching the inside rooms. The entire floor dedicated to the antiques and exhibitions was now off limits, due to the excessive security measures in place.

Dominic finished the last of his drink, before setting the empty glass down on the table next to him. Slowly, he rose from his armchair, before wandering to his bedroom in a half-asleep trance. Like a sack of potatoes, he dropped into the bed, letting the silk sheets engulf him completely.

After half an hour, a vicious alarm broke the tender silence, tearing through the midnight peace. With a jolt, Dominic rose from his bed, taking deep and ragged gasps of air for breaths.

"Oliver, what the hell is happening?" he roared down the intercom to Oliver, his head of security.

"Sir, there's an intruder in the parlour!"

"Yes, I can guess that, Oliver! Get after him!"


	2. Chapter 2 - The Intruder

The intruder pressed the button, causing the glass panel to slide across. The second the gap was wide enough, they darted their hand in and rescinded it again, snaring the medallion in the interim. Within a second, they had cleared the room, the medallion placed in their pocket tightly and securely.

Their next checkpoint was the window at the end of the corridor – on the fourth floor of the house, with a stark drop outside. The journey was only down a few metres of corridor, but there were several ridges and cavities throughout, which the two guards were using for cover.

A fury of sparks and bangs went off as dozens of bullets were fired from the twin guns, pounding against the floor and wall furiously. However, the intruder leapt from his cover, dashed down the corridor and reached the glass window, passing the two guards just as their ammo ran dry, sparing him.

As the cartridges were slotted into the assault rifles, the intruder kept his pace, flying towards the window. He reached it and, without pausing for thought or worry, leapt forward, going crashing through the window. A cascade of glass shards flew everywhere, the poof of the pane shattering piercing the silence of the outside night.

"Get him!" one of the guards barked.

"He can't go far, he's probably broken his leg by now!" the other replied, running over to the window anyway.

Looking down, all they could see was the intruder's black gear, almost concealed by the night, running away across the terrace.

The guards outside, all ready to fight to the death to retrieve the Flame, stood next to the large pond that made up the front of the house. It was around 30 metres long, 15 wide and 6 foot deep, and filled to the surface with icy water.

The intruder approached the pond, ducking to just avoid a spray of gunfire from above. Quickly, he ran towards the pond, as he was surrounded on both sides.

"We've got him!" he could hear a guard yell triumphantly.

"He's got nowhere to run!"

Now completely surrounded, the intruder head towards the pond and, decided that swimming and probably drowning would be better than whatever the guards had planned, leapt into it, feet first. At this instant, he cursed himself for this, as it would just make it harder for him to swim away. However, instead of crashing into the water, his feet hit something solid. Peeking down, he realised that he was, in fact, standing in the water, the minuscule waves lapping around the soles of his boots. Time to make his move; he set off running again, across the water.

"After him!" a guard cried in horror, prompting his subordinate to obey – he ran at the water, mimicking the intruder. He hit the water in the exact same place as the intruder, but this time, he fell in feet first, causing a spray of water to fly up in the air.

Finally, the intruder reached the end of the pond, and leapt off of the water, landing back on the ground again – only to be met with a guard, standing a few feet away from him, and pointing a rifle at him.

"Right," the guard grunted "That's it!"

The rifle was raised, the sights were aligned and the trigger was pulled – but there was no bang. No shot, no bullet, nothing. As the guard clicked away furiously at the trigger, the intruder, suddenly inspired by the past few minutes, clicked his fingers – and the guard collapsed in a heap.

By this point, the rest of the battalion were all in a stupor, and could only watch as the intruder ran over to the 10 foot fence and leapt over it in a single bound. The Samurai's Flame was gon


End file.
